The past two weeks have seen a significant increase in fuel prices for families. It is now costing well over €100 to fill a tank of petrol or diesel for a normal family at the moment. That is absolutely scandalous. Incredibly, 65% of that cost is Government tax. Of the cost of petrol at the pumps currently, 65% is Government tax. This Government is an engine of fuel inflation in this country. This Government is pushing up the price of fuel now. Home heating oil is well on its way to costing €2,000. Again, it is the same with the majority of this tax, which is absolutely scandalous. This is coming at a time when 300,000 families are in energy arrears. That is roughly about 900,000 people. Nearly 1 million people are in energy arrears. I spoke to an older gentleman in the past couple of days. He went to buy home heating oil but he could not afford it. He has a few sticks left in his backyard. That is all he has to heat his home currently with one open fire. He can heat one room in his house at the moment and he has no hot water at all. It is absolutely scandalous. In 2024 and 2025, the Tánaiste's Government took more than €4.1 billion in fuel taxes. The Government is making more on fuel taxes now than it ever did before. In the cost-of-living crisis, the Government is quids-in in terms of fuel taxes in this country. As diesel increased by 35 cent, the Government took 8 cent extra in VAT. The Government is profiteering off the misery of families in terms of the fuel crisis. The State is €14 million better off because of the taxes caused by this energy crisis across the country. That is scandalous. The Government is saying the worst is yet to come. It is planning to put up carbon taxes in a number of weeks. Last week, all of the Ministers travelled all around the world. They burned through 200 million tonnes of carbon. This week, they are saying we need to put up carbon taxes to stop people using carbon. The hypocrisy is incredible. Fuel is not a luxury good; it is a staple good. People need it. This is not a progressive tax. It hurts people in the lowest income brackets and rural Ireland the most. The hypocrisy of Ministers just back from flights where they burned through 200 million tonnes of carbon saying that in five weeks they are going to put carbon taxes on families is incredible. I wish to quickly raise the issue of biodiesel and bioethanol. We have a situation at the moment where the Government is charging carbon tax on the portion of diesel and petrol that is biodiesel and bioethanol. There is no excuse for that. It is immoral. Why is it that the Government will not reduce the price of hydrotreated vegetable oil, HVO, in this situation? Hauliers are crying out for a reduction in HVO prices. They want to make a change to a fuel that is carbon neutral but they cannot because the Government will not reduce the tax on it. It seems to me that this Government is oblivious to the pain and suffering families are going through at this moment of real fuel arrears and pain. Unless it actually pauses and gets rid of any increases in carbon taxes and reduces carbon taxes while there is a surge in prices, it will do more damage to families.

Sentiment score: -0.15